And Smile
by Techno Skittles
Summary: Soul just wanted the happy ending. The pretty girl. The normal life. It was okay though. He had Maka. That was enough.


**Disclaimer: Do not own Soul Eater. Why? The reason fails me at the moment.  
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**And Smile**

_By Techno Skittles_

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><p><em><strong>I'm not in this movie<strong>_

_**I'm not in this song**_

_**Never**_

_**Leave me paralyzed, love**_

_**Leave me hypnotized, love**_

Soul slid the key to his apartment into the slot, twisting it and successfully unlocking the door. He sighed, wondering if he really wanted to go into his house feeling this empty and confused. Did he really want to be asked questions that he knew he wouldn't have answers to? Especially since _she_ was part of the reason he was home. In retrospect, he wouldn't have accepted the date if not for her and he wouldn't have ended the date if not for her either.

Infatuation did funny things to the mind. It did even funnier things to the nervous system.

Setting his resolve and taking a deep breath to prepare (for what he didn't know for certain), Soul twisted the doorknob and pushed open the door, stepping into his cool, air-conditioned apartment. The first thing he noticed was that it was dark – no lights on what-so-ever. The only thing that had any form of illumination was the television, playing the sounds of whatever happened to be playing.

The second thing he noticed was the buffet of snacks on the coffee table. It was truly a child's dreamland of sugar and sweets. Fruit Roll Ups, popcorn, Cokes, juice boxes (Hi-C's and Juicy Juices), Hershey chocolate kisses, chocolate chip cookies, Twizzlers, Gushers fruit snacks, Mini Snickers bars, chocolate covered peanuts, Starbursts, M&M's, Skittles, Whoppers, and to conclude the diabetes fest, marshmallows. Soul stared in wonderment at the piles of goodies and cavities waiting to happen. First off, he wanted to know where they could've gotten so much candy and snacks. They didn't have all of this when he left to go on his date, he knew that for sure. If they had something remotely sweet, his inner-mind radar goes off and starts to tingle in his brain, leading him directly to where it was.

What could he say? He had a gift (although that's not what Maka considered it).

Secondly, _why_ did they have so much tooth-rotting sweets to begin with? Was the Easter Bunny feeling generous today? Or was it a special event? Last time he checked their calendar, it was just Wednesday. Nothing really special about Wednesday, right? No holidays, events, anything.

Soul looked over to the couch finally, seeing his meister curled up within herself, watching the TV with a blank expression. A Twizzler hung limply from her lips as she played around with the remote, skipping some scene advertising a movie coming out on DVD. She brought her knees closer to her chest and Soul could see her wiggle her toes as she sighed deeply. He picked up how disappointed her sigh was and naturally curious, he spoke up.

"What's wrong?"

She jumped, not expecting him to be there. She thought she was alone for the night, considering he had his date and her friends had prior engagements. "Oh. I didn't know you were here, Soul," she said apologetically.

The demon scythe mentally questioned how she hadn't heard him come into the apartment before concluding she was too deep in thought to notice. Her face had looked contemplative as she skipped past some advertisements for DVD's and move previews. But what could she have been thinking about that would require so much of her attention?

"Yeah," he said simply.

A thought suddenly occurred to Maka and she turned to face him, placing the remote next to her on the couch. "Matter of fact, what _are_ you doing here? Didn't you have a date with Jenny?" She wiggled her toes again, making Soul wonder if she did that often and that he never noticed until now. Then again, she hardly went barefoot in the house. She almost always wore socks if not slippers of some sort. She said something about how she didn't want dirt from the floor to get on her feet.

"Yeah," he said again, shredding off his coat and hanging it on the hook on the wall right next to the front door. "I did."

She watched him toe off his shoes, kicking them haphazardly into the corner. His hands were deep in his pockets, a sign that she had learned meant that she was straying into dangerous waters. He didn't feel like talking, but that didn't stop her from pressing on. He was her partner and it was all right if she pried into his life once in awhile. She wouldn't be a good friend if she didn't.

"So?"

"So what?"

Maka scoffed and rolled her eyes at his obliviousness. "So how'd it go?"

He stopped for a moment, really thinking about the question. They both looked at each other, Maka searching for the answer in his eyes, Soul searching for it in his head. "It was okay, I guess," he finally said, emptying his pockets of his wallet and keys. Bad luck on his part, Maka had been watching his crimson eyes carefully as he thought about it.

There's a reason people say that your eyes are the gateway to your soul.

"You're lying," she muttered as he turned to walk to his room. He froze mid-step, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets and Maka could see him clench his fists. She was on thin ice now and his pocketed, clenched fists were the big red "STOP" sign telling her to turn back now and avoid disaster. But anyone who knew Maka Albarn also knew that she was never one to pay attention or care for her safety. She did things for others, not herself.

"Oh yeah?" he said, turning to look at her with steeled over eyes, soft green gazing into hard red. His glare was a little unnerving, but Maka was determined to hold her ground so she just held his stare and matched it with her own. They stayed silent for awhile, neither willing to look away and break eye contact in fear of looking weak. Without breaking their strained eye contact, Soul asked, "And what makes you think that?"

"Your eyes."

"My…what?"

Maka rolled her eyes again and turned back to the TV screen, finding the words appearing on the screen that were part of the main menu more interesting than Soul's tensed stance. "You know; the things inside your head? The ones that help you see stuff? Those."

A smart comment almost slipped off his tongue and out into the slightly tense air (courtesy of him) before he thought better of it, not wanting to deal with a book slammed on his noggin. Instead, he huffed out a breath of aggravation before walking down the hallway to his room to drown himself in his iPod and stop thinking for awhile. He had made it to his door and had twisted the doorknob when he heard quietly shuffling behind him, the sound of someone sliding off of the couch. Footfalls reached his ears as he stood in his doorway, making him wonder why he was stopping to wait for her. He didn't need Maka's hostility towards him to add onto his horrendous night. He'd had enough of it, thank you very much.

Yet he continued to wait until her footsteps fell silent and was replaced by her soft breathing, coming from right next to him. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and saw her hand stretched out, a wrapped Fruit Roll-Up sitting on her upturned palm. Crimson irises sparkled in the shine of the silver wrapper as his tongue craved for the pure sugar of the fruit snack. Fruit Roll-Ups were…

"Your favorite," murmured Maka, completing his thought. She held it out further, waiting for him to take it. He was ready to snatch and devour it and a single bite too, but he couldn't help but ponder as to why Maka was being so kind when he basically just shot her down not a minute ago. Maybe this was her way of sweetening him up to get information out of him. His fingers twitched at his sides from the lack of candy held between them as he looked up at her eyes, looking for the glint she got at the corner of her eyes when she was in a deceiving mood. He had noticed it when she had tricked him into going shopping with her by saying they were going to the motorcycle shop to pick out new paints for his bike. He'd been using it against her ever since.

It wasn't there now.

Genuine emerald eyes half-hidden in the darkness of the hallway looked up into his red ones, holding their gaze as she dropped the snack into his hand. His fingers wrapped around it, accepting her generous offer as his eyes held hers in place, waiting for someone to say something to break the silence between them. If someone spoke, this wouldn't be so awkward. His heart would quit pushing against his chest in its frantic beating, attempting to jump out of his body into the hands of the woman it belonged to.

Another reason Jada wasn't right for him. (Or was it Jasmine? Jenny?)

"So." The deathscythe returned his attention to the blonde in front of him who was now pulling at the bottom of her shirt with both hands, the candy now in his hand no longer there to occupy hers. The green irises of her eyes were transfixed on the ground now and their solid eye contact was broken. A feeling of disappointment briefly swept Soul up until he realized that there was nothing to be disappointed about. He shouldn't even be feeling this way to begin with. "Wanna come watch this movie with me? I was supposed to watch it with Tsubaki but Black Star got sick so she stayed home with him so now I'm left by myself with all of that junk that's bound to make me sick to my stomach even though I won't be eating it all anyway but it'd be nice to have a little help to- mmph!" Soul's tan hand covered Maka's mouth, cutting off her run-on sentence successfully and giving him a chance to speak.

"Sure. S'long as it's cool, I'm up for it."

Maka's eyes sparkled before they darted to her right and her cheeks grew warm under his hand. Her blush might as well been a hot wire because Soul jerked his hand back to his side quickly and watched as her face darkened in color. "About that…You see, since it was girls' night we kinda ordered what you'd call a chick flick so…." Her face fell when she saw his expression change to distaste. "But-but you can have as much candy as you want! And I won't even bug you about your date during the movie! Promise!"

He could sense it. In her eyes, pleading with him; in her tone, on the verge of whining (which Miss Tough-Girl-Albarn never did); her slouched posture, hunched over from the weight of the worry of being rejected. She wanted to spend time with him, didn't want to be alone. Not even for something as simple as watching a movie down the hall from his room where he could be sleeping right about now. Come to think of it, they never really hung out anymore. She was busy with her studies, preparing for graduation and catching up _his_ grade by doing extra credit work that involved all-nighters and late trips to the campus library. She did all of this, for the both of them, while he goofed out with Black Star and accepted dates left and right from hot tourists and cute residents. Which, in retrospect, he now felt _immensely_ guilty for.

Even after all she's done, he was still about to just turn her away, for his selfish reasons. He was about to deny her once more just because he didn't feel like being near anyone as the sting of rejection still throbbed in his heart and stabbed at his pride. Sure, he wasn't really into Jeanie, but that didn't mean it still didn't hurt.

It wouldn't hurt to hang out once more, for her sake. He's been such a distant jackass lately; it was the very _least_ he could do (even though he'd do anything for Maka).

With a shrug of his shoulders he let go of his doorknob and walked past Maka down the hallway, dropping onto the couch and slouching back into the soft cushions, waiting for Maka to take the hint. When she walked into the room, he didn't miss the satisfied grin on her face as she sat next to him, grabbing a handful of popcorn on the way.

"So what are we watching?"

"Beastly."

"Huh?"

She pressed play on the main menu and then turned to face him. Her mango shampoo (the one she claimed to hate and mumbled to herself to never let Soul buy her shampoo again) smelled amazing when she whipped it around her head, allowing Soul to smell it from his spot. He didn't know why she hated it so much. He thought it made her smell tantalizing.

"It's basically a modern-day version of Beauty and the Beast," she explained. "A classic in today's time."

Soul nodded and turned back to the TV screen. "Uh huh," he muttered in acknowledgement. "So this'll be pretty sappy, huh?"

Maka shrugged. "Don't know. Never seen it. I guess so though."

Their conversation abruptly stopped, sending the two into silence as the opening scene unraveled before their eyes, the sounds of quiet munching heard faintly over the dialogue and discography meshed together, pulling Maka and, admittedly, Soul into the movie. It wasn't long before they really got into it, marveling at the witch's magic and the hideous image of the lead guy with scars and lack of hair. The transformation into the "beast."

It was only the beginning, but Soul was already hooked. He'd have to do something with Black Star later (preferably border-line illegal) to earn some cool points back. And no one was to ever find out about this. _Ever_. He'd discuss the fact that this was to never be mentioned past tonight with Maka later.

The guy's father…Soul knew how it felt. His own father was the same way: distant, unloving, too wrapped up in his success to give a shit about his own kin. He knew _exactly_ how this Kyle guy felt. Rejected, abandoned, and worst of all: _**alone**_.

And then there was the obvious fact of how ugly his father and anyone who happened to see them made him feel. Feared because of his looks, never given a second-glance or a chance to prove himself. Soul felt an odd sense of déjà vu. He didn't like it. Then again, this was the modified version of Beauty and the Beast. What could he _not_ relate to?

The pretty girl who fell in love with him albeit his frightful appearance.

The spell to change him back.

A happy ending.

A scowl found its way to his lips, pulling them back to reveal his sharp teeth in fury. Of all nights to watch something so hurtful, it had to be _tonight_. Of all nights!

Maka had a horrible taste in movies and horrible timing.

Soul took that last thought back when Maka slumped against him, curling her lithe body into a ball and snuggling against him, eyes still watching the screen intently. A faint blush tinted her cheeks and Soul stared down at her in confusion.

Sensing his befuddlement, Maka simply stated, "I was cold."

Lies. Poorly told lies. There was a blanket behind them on the back of the couch, folded nice and neat due to Maka's obsession with tidiness. If she was really cold, she could've cocooned herself within the soft and warm threads. Instead, she must've sensed his inner turmoil and taken the liberty of comforting him by laying on him.

But you know what? He didn't give a damn. She was nice and soft and he was starting to feel better already.

They sat through the rest of the movie in silence, occasionally reaching out for some popcorn or a Twizzler and a sip of soda. Soul had wrapped his arm around Maka's small (but sturdy he had to remind himself) frame somewhere around the part where the girl had first moved in with the guy (the pretty girl he wished for in his own nightmare of a life). He felt even worse when it turned out that she was obviously the one to break the spell and cure him of his ugliness and he wanted to punch down a brick wall when she accepted him the first time she saw him, scars and all. Why couldn't someone look at him like that _without_ freaking out? He wasn't even that bad off. Just a few abnormal features here and there.

But according to most, he was a demon sent from Hell to wreak havoc on Earth under the rule of the devil. It was amazing how fearful people became that they turned to ignorance for safety. If there was an apocalypse coming down upon them, he suspected they'd go first.

Out of nowhere, a slightly heavy weight plopped down onto his lap, waking him from his deep thoughts. Soul looked down to see Maka, dead asleep in his lap with a Twizzler gripped loosely in her fist hanging off of the couch, her knuckles grazing the carpet. She nuzzled her face into his jeans, taking a deep breath and letting out a sigh of contentment before curling into a tight ball, arms tucked into her chest.

Soul chuckled. His meister could be too cute at times. And Soul was happy to say that it was him and him only who ever saw Maka in such a state.

Turning away from the movie, he picked his meister up in his arms, walking off to her room to tuck her in bed. He noticed that he was walking out just around the time when the girl was about to leave for her school field trip and Kyle was running to catch her to confess his feelings. It was the happy ending that everyone expected to come. The guy gets the pretty girl _and_ his normal looks back.

"Neh."

Soul glanced down at the sleeping girl in his arms and smiled as she shifted around, burying herself into his chest as much as she could, trying to get warm. Her messy blonde hair hung from her head past his arm and her left hand fisted around the cloth of his shirt as he lowered her onto her bed and wrapped her sheets around her. Even after she was all tucked in, her hand stubbornly kept its grasp on his shirt.

Reluctantly, Soul unwrapped her fingers and placed her hand gently on her pillow. She whimpered slightly from the loss, but relaxed into the depths of her soft mattress. Soul quietly exited from the room and headed to his own room, leaving the mess in the living room for the morning. He'd probably get scolded for not cleaning it up, but at the moment he was really looking forward to collapsing on his bed. He'd had a really long night after all. He was physically and emotionally worn down.

Climbing into bed, still wearing the clothes from his date, Soul plugged his earphones into his ears, turning on some smooth jazz to fall asleep to. His mind drifted off quickly, but the entire time he was falling asleep, one thought lingered on his mind.

He didn't need a fairy tale ending. Or a girl to save him from the spell of abnormality.

He had Maka.

Maka was his pretty girl.

_**And smile.**_

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><p><strong>Author's Comments:<strong>

**Wow. After starting this months ago, I was only just now motivated to complete it.**

**Also, I have updated in a month. I am such a bad person.**

**So, I'm not even going to go into all of the stories I need to update and explanations and all of that because you'd be sitting here forever. So I'm just going to say, I'm working on it.**

**As for the song used in this fic YOU MUST LISTEN NOW. ;_; It is a very beautiful song. I want it to play during my first kiss (yes, I'm still a lip virgin :P).**

**And this is random, but I went to Nekocon last weekend, and guess who's autograph I got?**

**BLAIR'S! Her English voice actor was there and it took so much energy not to pounce her and get kicked out. Because, for those of you who don't know, Blair is one of my favorite characters. :( Too bad she hardly gets any screentime. **

**Reviews are love~**

**Until next time~!**


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